Consumer knife sharpeners are well known in the industry. Typical knife sharpeners include a housing that includes a motorized grinding assembly as well as one or more guides for positioning a blade for sharpening. Representative knife sharpeners of the prior art are described and illustrated in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,915,709; 5,611,726; and 5,620,359, as well as U.S. Patent Publication No. 2008/0176496A1, all of which are herein incorporated by reference.
Due to differences in knife design and usage, many sharpeners have been developed or optimized for very specific blade types. To achieve optimum sharpening results, each type of blade must be presented to the rotating side face of a grinding wheel at an angle that is suitable for the existing type of cutting edge found on the blade. The angle of presentation changes significantly depending upon the type of blade, for example a cleaver or hunting knife must be presented at a significantly greater included angle with respect to the plane of the rotating side face of a grinding wheel than a paring knife or a fillet knife. For instance, specific sharpening devices have been developed for thick blades or shears such as, for example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,245,791, which specifically addresses sharpening of scissors. In another example of a sharpener designed for a specific sharpening application, U.S. Patent Publication No. 2008/0261494A1 describes a sharpening device for hunting and Asian knives. U.S. Pat. No. 5,245,791 and U.S. Patent Publication No. 2008/0261494A1 are both incorporated by reference in their entirety.
While powered knife sharpeners are well known in the art, it would be advantageous to increase the versatility of these sharpeners such that a single knife sharpener can accommodate the unique sharpening requirements of a variety of blade types and styles.